This policy brief analyses two approaches to promoting gender equality in family farming: Mexico's PROMUSAG and PROMETE public programmes for rural women's productive inclusion and economic autonomy, and Sudan's civil-society-led Zenab initiative, a holistic, community-based approach to sustainable agriculture and climate resilience. It identifies common elements and key differences between institutional and community-based models, draws lessons learned, and provides recommendations to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of public policies and programmes for gender equality in family farming. It concludes that both state-led and community-based approaches are needed to advance rural women's empowerment.

Policy recommendations include:

- include a diagnostic analysis of social norms, behaviours and discriminatory attitudes related to gender at the design stage of policies and programmes;

- engage all actors — men, youth and women — at implementation level, addressing both the practical and symbolic dimensions of gender inequalities;

- integrate indicators and methodologies for monitoring and tracking progress on gender equality and women's empowerment, with sex-disaggregated data;

- embed sustainability strategies in policies and programmes, namely by generating sustainable income opportunities for women and strengthening organisations that foster exchanges among women and between women and men.